The 'Ghent Altarpiece' mystery

If Rotterdam's stunning heist of Picasso, Monet and Matisse paintings last month focused attention on the murky world of art theft, Ghent's gothic Saint Bavo cathedral has been at the center of a crime that has bedeviled the art world for decades. The Just Judges panel of the Van Eyck brothers’ multi-panel Gothic masterpiece hasn't been seen since 1934, when chief suspect Arsene Goedertier suffered a stroke at a political rally close to Ghent and died after murmuring possibe clues to the crime to a confidant.

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In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, a restorer inspects, also visible in the foreground, one of the 24 framed panels of the Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, at the Fine Arts museum in Ghent, Belgium. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File)
In this Oct. 11, 2012 file photo, a restorer inspects, also visible in the foreground, one of the 24 framed panels of the Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, at the Fine Arts museum in Ghent, Belgium. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File)